"The Keeper's Dare" is the fictional account of an unsolved murder in Hardin County. The picture of the author, Robert Coward's, grandfather, who is believed to have helped his uncle get away with the murder of Hardin County Sheriff's Deputy James Reddick.
Photo: Handout

"The Keeper's Dare" is the fictional account of an unsolved murder...

Robert Coward , the author of "The Keeper's Dare," a fictional account of an unsolved murder in Hardin County.
Photo: Handout

Robert Coward , the author of "The Keeper's Dare," a fictional...

Hardin County Sheriff s Deputy James Reddick was killed in an unsolved murder in 1939.
Photo: Handout

Hardin County Sheriff s Deputy James Reddick was killed in an...

Hardin County Sheriff s Deputy James Reddick was killed in an unsolved murder in 1939.
Photo: Handout

Hardin County Sheriff s Deputy James Reddick was killed in an...

Hardin County Sheriff s Deputy James Reddick was killed in an unsolved murder in 1939.
Photo: Handout

Hardin County Sheriff s Deputy James Reddick was killed in an...

"The Keeper's Dare" is the fictional account of an unsolved murder in Hardin County.
Photo: Handout

"The Keeper's Dare" is the fictional account of an unsolved murder...

"The Keeper's Dare" is the fictional account of an unsolved murder in Hardin County.
Photo: Handout

Robert Coward vividly remembers his mother putting an end to a discussion about whether his uncle killed a Hardin County sheriff's deputy.

But at 16, that answer wouldn't suffice.

The story that unfolded after years of research came together like the perfect script.

A family member turning in his own kin. Police beating the man for a confession and never getting one. A man arrested and tried, but never convicted, for the murder he had announced in front of a crowd he would commit.

It was 1939, and the 64-year-old deputy was killed after E. B. Means told him, "I'll get my dad's gun and come back and kill you," according to an article in the July 1, 1939 edition of The Beaumont Journal. Hardin County Sheriff's Deputy James Reddick was later shot in a local cafe where he tended bar.

A book and movie deal all started because of unanswered questions and a young man's curiosity.

Saratoga native Coward, whose book "The Keeper's Dare" is based on the unsolved 1939 Hardin County murder, recently signed an option agreement with Gibraltar Pacific Productions for the movie rights to the screenplay adapted from his book.

Coward, who now lives in Katy, said the fictional account is based on actual events. His uncle, Means, was arrested and indicted by a grand jury for Reddick's murder - only to see the case dismissed two years later.

The idea for the screenplay came after he published his novel. Coward said he was approached many times by people commenting that the story might make an even better movie.

"I'm excited because I know a lot of people in this business that haven't gotten this far," he said.

Coward said he worked with fellow author Darla Marx on the screenplay.

Their meeting was an opportunity they joked would have only happened in a movie.

The two, both from the Houston area, crossed paths in Scotland while there with their own companies - both oil and gas concerns - on a business trip.

Marx, 52, of Woodville, said they were staying at the same hotel when they ran into each other at dinner. It came up that they were both authors - Marx has published several books - when the topic changed to the screenplay for The Keeper's Dare. Marx spent her weekends in Scotland helping to improve the screenplay, and together they collaborated on sections.

"I think it's one of those things that was meant to be," she said. "I read it and said, 'Oh man, this just needs a little bit and it's going to make one hell of a story. Robert's just a really good writer. He's very descriptive. It's just a great story.

As a teenager, Coward said, he found out about the case by accident. When he approached his mother, "she flat out told me that was something we didn't talk about and that was the end of the discussion."

But that wasn't enough to dampenr his smoldering desire to know what had unfolded.

Over seven years, Coward pored through old court documents and searched for the relatives of the murdered law man. It took more than 50 interviews to gather the threads of the story. After all these years, questions and parts of the story still remain unanswered and are only assumed in the stories told of those living in the area 50 years ago.

Coward said he found the Reddick family through Internet research. Although the initial encounter was awkward, he said they were wonderful people. Their only request was that he not make his uncle out to be a hero.

That was never his intention. Means was never a hero.

Coward said he couldn't even consider writing the book while Means was alive.

"My uncle had a reputation as a man who was not to be messed with even though he was very young," Coward said, and he didn't change much over the years.

Back in those days, he said, those who lived in rural areas couldn't get to a city to see a movie. Instead, traveling tent shows would provide much of that entertainment.

Coward said that one such tent was set up in Saratoga one night, when his 22-year-old uncle and two friends showed up late and tried to get in. An argument ensued between the uncle and the deputy, and Reddick hit Means in the head with a billy club.

Later, Reddick was found dead.

Coward said it was ultimately his grandfather that turned in Means.

"For six days they beat him and tortured him and played mind games with him to try and get him to confess," Coward said.

But Means never did. He wouldn't even tell them his own name, Coward said.

Coward said his mother, who passed away in 2003, eventually told him most of the story. She was, after all, Means' sister.

Coward, who has worked in oil fields since he was 16, said it would be a dream come true if the movie - which could take three to five years to come to fruition - afforded him the opportunity to write full-time. Coward plans to update his website, robertcoward.com, with more information.

"It's based on a true crime story. People love that," Coward said. "He basically got away with it. People are always interested in guys who take on the establishment, without friends in high power, without money, and seem to come out on top."